2026 Celebration of Excellence Award Winners
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Each year the Graduate School hosts a Celebration of Graduate Excellence, recognizing the remarkable talent, dedication, and innovation shared amongst our graduate student community. The event recognizes recipients of prestigious fellowships and grants, as well as recipients of the Graduate School's unique awards: the Commitment to Diversity Award; the Mentorship Award; and the Distinguished Graduate Staff Member Award.
The 2026 Celebration of Graduate Excellence is planned to be held on Wednesday, May 6th, in the Old Chapel. During this time, our team will honor and recognize numerous achievements throughout our graduate community, including a special acknowledgement of our award recipients. Please see below for an official announcement regarding this year’s award recipients.
2026 Distinguished Graduate Staff Award Recipient
University staff members play key roles in empowering our graduate student community, and in enhancing their overall UMass experience. Whether these staff members are involved in designing graduate curricula, counseling students academically or professionally, or serving the general needs of our students, their importance is without question. The Graduate School’s Distinguished Graduate Staff Award recognizes one staff member each year, celebrating their impact on improving the experiences of our students.
This year the Graduate School selected Zoe Getman-Pickering as the recipient of the Distinguished Graduate Staff Award.
Zoe’s nomination was made in recognition of her extraordinary service to graduate students through the ELEVATE program (a graduate training program focused on solving challenges in the energy transition). Zoe’s impact reaches far beyond administrative excellence; she has cultivated a culture of care, mentorship, and collaboration that exemplifies student support at UMass. Zoe has been the backbone of ELEVATE’s success, shaping it into a thriving and inclusive community. She consistently goes above and beyond to provide individualized support to every student, helping them secure fellowships, awards, and professional opportunities. With Zoe’s thoughtful mentorship and incisive editing support, students have received competitive recognitions, including a three-year Department of Defense fellowship, the Chancellor’s Award, and a Climate Corps Fellowship.
2026 Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award Recipients
Shannon Roberts, a professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, was lauded by her nominators for her “innate ability to create a culture where students of all backgrounds and experience levels feel safe and seen.” Her graduate students describe her as reliable, encouraging, structure, resourceful, meticulous, and kind. She has devoted a great deal of energy to fostering belonging, including mentoring graduate students who formed the university’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. She also works with faculty mentors as a trained facilitator of our Culturally Aware Mentor workshop, which helps faculty develop their skills in mentoring graduate students of different identities. We are grateful for Professor Roberts’ outstanding efforts.
Marisol Barbón is one of the most sought-after mentors in the department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, and has served on 35 master’s or Ph.D. committees. Her nominators recognized her for streamlining the comprehensive exam process, creating a formal three-tier mentorship program, and co-establishing with a colleague a fellowship in honor of a beloved faculty member that raised over $30,000 to fund graduate student travel. We also recognize that Professor Barbón rose to a particularly difficult situation, leading fundraising efforts and providing support for a student who tragically faced a terminal illness. Her advocacy enabled him to receive his Ph.D. before he passed away, thus providing a great comfort to his family. We are grateful to Professor Barbón and her empathy and hard work on behalf of graduate students.
Emily West was recognized by her nominators for her outstanding work as a very in-demand and caring advisor as well as her contributions as GPD for the Department of Communication. Of the latter, her nomination packet says, “Dr. West brought innovative new ideas to programming for graduate students and breathed new life into existing programs and events to refresh and strengthen them.” In particular, Professor West supported the development of graduate student profession preparation by introducing Graduate Alumni Panels and reinventing the graduate proseminar to emphasize teaching preparation. Her contributions to the redesign of the comprehensive exams “facilitated rather than impeded progress toward the degree.” While Professor West is on a well-deserved sabbatical and cannot join us here today, we thank her for her contributions.
2026 Commitment to Diversity, Student & Faculty Award Recipients
The Commitment to Diversity Awards recognize both a faculty member and student for their respective contributions to diversity and inclusion within the UMass Amherst graduate student body. Both award recipients are nominated by peers, with the winners selected by our partners within the Graduate Students of Color Association (GSCA).
Jaime Pinero has been named the recipient of this year’s 2026 Commitment to Diversity Award for Faculty.
Jaime is a dedicated extension professor in the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, known for his co-founding and ongoing advising of the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) chapter at UMass Amherst. This MANRRS chapter also holds the distinction of being the first one established in New England. As a faculty member, Jaime has been an active and welcoming member of the UMass community, often inviting his undergraduate and graduate students to participate in events such as multicultural cookouts, conversations over lunch, or conversations about language and culture in general. Jaime also chairs the UMass Extension Fruit Notes, an ongoing initiative that highlights Jaime’s commitment to bridging academia and industry through the enrichment of agricultural practices.
John Agribede has been named the recipient of this year’s 2026 Commitment to Diversity Award for Students.
John is a graduating doctoral student in chemical engineering whose impact in advancing diversity and inclusion across campus has been sincerely felt and recognized. The president of the UMass Graduate Student Government, John has actively worked on initiatives that bring the campus together such as the Summer Cookout, the Long Table of Friendship, and the We Are One UMass campaign. John has been a vocal advocate for enhancing travel grants, emergency funding, parent-focused resources, and broader access-focused resources for all graduate students. Congratulations, John, for all of your work in reinforcing a diverse community at UMass!